Although there are over 700 Chinese family names, the vast majority of Chinese have relatively few names. The 20 most common names are used by the majority of Chinese. The reason for this is statistical it is more likely that the father of a child will have a common family name than an uncommon name, and this can be mathematically shown to crowd out uncommon names over time. This effect is more pronounced among Chinese than Europeans because Chinese surnames have existed for a much longer time.

Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. The surname of the Han emperors was Liu, and that of the Ming emperors were Chu. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the mandate of heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. In addition, unlike European practice, the family of a deposed emperor would lose all power. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.

In writing Chinese names, Chinese family names are put before the given name, e.g. CHEUNG Kwok Wing. Hence the Western concept of first name and last name only creates confusion when used with Chinese names. In Westernized Asian countries or for those residing in the West, often a Western name is chosen, e.g. Leslie Cheung. When the Western name and Chinese name are put together, it often becomes hard to tell what the family name is. Some variants include:

• Cheung Kwok-wing -- China, direct Chinese translation
• Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing -- Hong Kong, hybrid of Western/Chinese
• Leslie Kwok-wing Cheung -- United States among others, use given name as middle name

Some publications and legal documents will print the family name in small capital letters , e.g. Leslie CHEUNG Kwok Wing.

Chinese women usually retain their maiden names after marriage, sometimes placing their husbands' family names in front of theirs. For example, former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, Mrs. Anson Chan is known as CHAN FONG On-sung (陳方安生) where Fong is her maiden name.

There are sometimes complex traditions associated with surnames. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that the founder of the clan was adopted and so took the surname Liao, but in honor of his ancestors, he demanded that he be buried with the surname Chen. As a result, his descendants use the surname Liao while alive and the surname Chen after death.

In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of certain surnames, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy is generally practiced.

Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names have survived into the modern time. Some famous ones include Sima (司马), >Zhuge (诸葛), >Ouyang (欧阳 occasionally >Anglicized, or rather, Irishized, as O'Young), and >Situ (司徒 in Cantonese: Szeto). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are extremely rare and most likely have non-Han origin, for example, Aixinjueluo (愛新覺羅, also romanized as Aisin-gioro), the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.

Popularity of family names has regional distributions. Some common Northern names are rare in the South. For example, the 55th most popular family name Xiao (肖) is almost unheard of in Hong Kong. Chen is a particularly common name in Taiwan. On the other hand, the 47th most popular family name Fong (方) is a major name in the Chinatown of San Francisco, California, USA. As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name could move to an unsettled area and leave this family name to large numbers of people.

Transliteration of Chinese family names (see Table 1 below) into English poses a number of problems. It is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently and for different family names with similar pronounciations to be transliterated identically.

Table 1: Top 60 Family Names in Mandarin and Cantonese Transliterations
The "Other" columns are common transliterations, used before the formalization and popularization of existing Romanizations, still can be found in the names of some overseas Chinese. The last columns are some popular transliterations in other Chinese languages (dialects) used by some overseas Chinese whose ancestral mother tongue is neither Mandarin nor Cantonese.
The tone marks, though a part of the official Romanizations, are not used officially in passport or in overseas schools.

	Char.		Mandarin Chinese			Cantonese			Other dialects
	T.	S.	Pinyin	W-G	Other	Jyutping	Yale/py	Other
1	王	王	Wang2	Wang		Wong4	Wong	Vong	Ong
2	陳	陈	Chen2	Chen	Chern	Can4	Chan	Chun	Tan, Ding
3	李	李	Li3	Li	Lee	Lei5	Lee		Ly, Le
4	張	张	Zhang1	Chang		Zoeng1	Cheung
5	劉	刘	Liu2	Liu	Liou	Lau4	Lau
6	楊	杨	Yang2	Yang		Joeng4	Yeung
7	黃	黄	Huang2	Huang	Hwang	Wong4	Wong		Vong
8	吳	吴	Wu2	Wu	Woo	Ng4	Ng
9	林	林	>Lin2	Lin		Lam4	Lam	Lum	Lim
10	周	周	Zhou1	Chou	Joe	Zau1	Chow
11	葉	叶	>Ye4	Yeh		Jip6	Yip	Ip
12	趙	赵	Zhao4	Chao		Ziu6	Chiu	Jiu
13	呂	吕	L?3	Lu		Leoi5	Lui
14	徐	徐	>Xu2	Hsu		Ceoi4	Tsui
15	孫	孙	Sun1	Sun	Suen	Syun1	Sun / Suen
16	朱	朱	>Zhu1	Chu		Zyu1	Chu	Chue	Gee, Ju
17	高	高	>Gao1	Kao		Gou1	Ko	Go
18	馬	马	Ma3	Ma		Maa5	Ma	Mah
19	梁	梁	>Liang2	Liang		Loeng4	Leung / Leong	Lang
20	郭	郭	>Guo1	Kuo		Gwok3	Kwok
21	何	何	He2	H?, Ho		Ho4	Ho
22	鄭	郑	>Zheng4	Cheng	Jehng	Zeng6	Cheng
23	胡	胡	Hu2	Hu		Wu4	Wu	Woo
24	蔡	蔡	>Cai4	Tsai		Coi3	Choi	Choy
25	曾	曾	>Zeng1	Tseng	Tzeng	Cang4	Tsang
26	佘	佘	She1	She		Se4	Sheh
27	鄧	邓	>Deng4	Teng		Dang6	Tang	Dung
28	沈	沈	Shen3	Shen		Sam2	Sum	Shum
29	謝	谢	>Xie4	Hsieh	Sheih	Ze6	Tse
30	唐	唐	Tang2	T'ang (Tang)		Tong4	Tong
31	許	许	>Xu3 (X?3)	Hsu		Heoi2	Hui
32	羅	罗	Luo2	Luo		Lo4	Lo	Law, Lowe
33	袁	袁	Yuan2	Y?an (Yuan)		Jyun4	Yuen
34	馮	冯	>Feng2	Feng	Ferng	Fung4	Fung / Fong
35	宋	宋	Song4	Sung	Soong	Sung3	Shung (?)
36	蘇	苏	Su1	Su		Sou1	So
37	曹	曹	>Cao2	Tsao		Cou4	Cho
38	陸	陆	Lu4	Lu		Luk6	Luk (?)
39	麥	麦	>Mai4	Mai		Maak6	Mak	Muk
40	董	董	Dong3	Tong		Dung2	Tung
41	于	于	>Yu2	Yu		Jyu1 or Jyu4 ?	Yu
42	韓	韩	Han2	Han		Hon4	Han
43	任	任	Ren4	Jen		Jam4 or Jam6?	Yam	Yum
44	蔣	蒋	>Jiang3	Chiang	Chung	Zoeng2	Cheung	Chiang
45	顧	顾	Gu4	Ku		Gu3	Gu	Goo
46	鍾	钟	>Zhong1	Chong		Zung1	Chung
47	方	方	Fang1	Fang		Fong1	Fong
48	杜	杜	Du4	Tu		Dou6	To / Do
49	丁	丁	>Ding1	Ting		Ding1	Ting	Ding
50	姚	姚	Yao2	Yao		Jiu4	Yao
51	潘	潘	Pan1	P'an (Pan)		Pun1	Poon
52	姜	姜	>Jiang1	Chiang		Goeng1	Geung
53	譚	谭	Tan2	T'an (Tan)		Taam4	Tam	Tom	Hom
54	邱	邱	>Qiu1	Chiu	Chiou	Jau1	Yau
55	肖	肖	>Xiao4	Hsiao		Ciu3	Chiu
56	金	金	>Jin1	Chin	Kim	Gam1	Kam	Gum
57	賈	贾	>Jia3	Chia		Gaa2	Ga
58	田	田	>Tian2	T'ien (Tien)		Tin4	Tin
59	崔	崔	>Cui1	Tsui	Tsuei	Ceoi1	Cheui (?)
60	程	程	>Cheng2	Ch'eng (Cheng)		Cing4	Ching

Reference for Table 1